Piano-action.



I. WROZINA. PIANO ACTION.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 11, 1911.

992,528, Patented May 16,1911.

IGNATIUS'IWROZINA; OF WEST HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

"PIANO-ACTION.

; Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 16, 1911.

Applicationfiled March 11, 1911. Sefial No. 613,793.

a-loop- 8 fastened to the outer edge of the i To allwhom alt-mayconcern:

Be it known that I, IGNATIUS WROZINA, a subject of the Emperor ofAustriaHungary, residing at WVestv Haven, in the county of New Haven andState of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement inPiano-Actions; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken inconnectionwith the accompanying drawings and the letters of referencemarked thereon, to bev a full, clear, and exact description of the same,and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, andrepresent, in

Figure 1 a view partly in vertical section and partly in side elevationof an upright piano-action constructed in accordance with my inventionand showing the parts in their normal positions. Fig. 2 a similar brokenview showing the action as locked in its operative position by theaction of the lockingfinger carried by the fly.

My invention relates to an improvement in actions for upright pianos,the object being to produce at a low cost for manufacture, a simple anddurable action constructed with particular reference to locking thehammer, fly and damper-lever in the positions due to them when the keyis fully depressed, and to reducing the friction of the operation of theparts of the action.

WVith these ends in view my invention consists in an uprightpiano-action having certain details of construction and combination ofparts as will be hereinafter described and particularly recited in theclaims.

For the illustration of my invention, I have shown it as applied to anupright piano action like that shown and described in my United StatesPatent No. 979,729 granted December 27, 1910. I would have itunderstood, however, that my present improvement is not limited to usein conjunction with the action shown and described in my said priorpatent.

In carrying out my invention as herein shown, the fly 2 is provided atits extreme upper end with a slightly inclined lockingfinger 3terminating at its outer end in a felt pad or punch 4 which engagesdirectly with the upper end of the inner face of a fly-spring 5 whichis-made of music wire and entered at its lower end, which is providedwith a coil 6, into the outer face of the fly 2. The upper end of thisspring is formed with a hook 7 which is entered into hammer-butt 9 whichis mounted on a pivot 10 in a vertically arranged flange 11 secured tothe hammer-butt rail 12, the pivot 10 forming the main pivot, as itwere, of the entire. action. For co-action with the extreme upper end ofthe fly, the hammerbutt is provided as usual with a buckskin pad 13-which receives the upward thrust of thefly and with a felt pad 14 whichcushions the inward movement of the upper end of the fly when thepressure is removed from the outer end of the key-lever 15, and the flyis allowed to resume its normal position. I should explain in thisconnection that my intention is to employ a very light fly spring 5 sothat the impact of the inner face of the upper end of the fly againstthe felt pad or cushion 14 will be very slight, for which reason thesame will-rarely need renewal,

and as the pad 1a is for the reason above indicated kept soft, any clickor rattling from the impact of the fly upon it will be obviated.

Before proceeding to a description of the operation of my presentimprovement, I will describe the other features of the action hereinshown.

The key-lever 15 rocks in the usual manner upon a center pin 16, and isfurnished at its inner end with a capstan 17 upon which the enlargedlower end of the fly 2 rests, the said lower end of the fly beingprovided with a covering 18 of felt. Near its lower end the fiy 2 isprovided with a short link 19] the inner end of which is pivoted to aflange 20 secured to a horizontal rail 21, the link 19 being sometimesknown as the short abstract, and the rail 21 being sometimes called theshort abstract rail. About mid- -way the length of the fly 2, it isprovided with an inwardly extending set-off or arm 22 carrying ananti-friction roller 23 coacting with a strip of felt 24 applied to theinclined lower face of a cam 25 extending forward from the lower end ofthe damperlever 26 which is hung upon a pin 27 in the outer end of ahorizontally arranged damper-lever flange 28 the forward end of which issecured to the hammer-butt rail 12. The upper end of the damper-lever 26receives the wire shank 29 of a damper-block 30, the cushion 31 of whichacts upon the strings 32 at a point just below the point thereon whichreceives the impact of the hammer 33 which is secured to the upper endof a hammershank 341- the lower end of which is entered into thehammer-butt 9.

lVhen the hammer is in its normal position, the upper end of the shank 31 rests upon a flat cushion 35 applied to the forward inner face of ahorizontally arranged hammerrest rail 36. A damper-lever spring 37 secured at its lower end to the flange 28 presses at its upper end againsta lug 38 formed upon the outer face of the upper end of the damper-lever26. As herein shown the damper-lever 26 is furnished at its lower endwith a regulating screw 39 the inner end of which is covered by abuckskin fiap 40 which makes contact with a set-off rail 11.

In the normal position of the parts, the extreme upper end of the fly 2will be held against the cushion 1 1 of the hammer-butt 9, and thereforeunder the inner end of the buckskin strip 13 of the hammer-butt 9, bythe slight tension of the fly-spring 5. Now when the outer end of thekey-lever 15 is fully depressed and the hammer is consequently throwninward to the limit of its inward movement, the felt pad 1 of thelocking-finger 3 will engage with the spring 5 with the virtual effectof locking the hammer-butt 9 and hence the hammer 33 and thehammer-shank 3st, the damper-lever 26 and the fly 2, in their operatedpositions in which they are prevented from vibration. Thislocking-action results from the fact that the upper end of the fly is ineffect braced against the hammer-butt by the ac-" tion of thelocking-finger on the upper end of the fly spring, the extreme upper endof which is held rigid by the loop 8. In a certain sense this action maybe described as the wedging of the upper end of the fly andlocking-finger between the hammer-butt and the fly-spring. At the sametime the set-off arm 22 coacts with the cam 25 of the damper-lever 26 soas to hold the same locked against all vibration. However, just as soonas pressure is removed from the outer end of the key-lever, thelocking-finger 3 is immediately disengaged from contact with thefly-spring 5, whereby the hammer-butt 9 and hence the hammer-shank 3%and hammer 33 are allowed to fall back into their normal positions. Thedamper-lever 26 is released at the same time by the descent of theset-off 22 with respect to its cam 25. I particularly wish to emphasizethe fact that the friction between the locking-finger 3 and the spring 5is so slight as to be negligible, whereas the friction between anordinary checking device interposed between the hammer-butt and the flyis so considerable that it has heretofore been regarded as a serioushandicap upon the perfect action of the piano.

Although I prefer to employ my improved locking-finger 3 at the upperend of the fly, in conjunction with the set-off 22, it is apparent thatit is not limited to such use, but that it may be applied to actions inwhich the set-off 22 is not employed.

As herein shown, the action is furnished with the usual horizontallyarranged damper rod 12 which co-acts with all of the damper-levers 26 inthe usual manner when it is operated by one of the piano pedals. Forregulating the action of the rod 12 upon the respective damper-levers26, I provide each lever with a regulating screw 13 the forward end ofwhich acts upon a felt strip at secured to the forward edge of the saidlever 26 and cushioning one face of the rod 42, the opposite face of therod being cushioned upon a felt strip 15 applied to the inner face ofthe hammer-butt rail 12.

The construction just described, it will be understood, is common tomodern upright pianoforte actions.

I claim 1. In an upright pianoaction, the com bination with thehammer-butt and fly thereof, of a fly-spring mounted in the fly andconnected with the hammer-butt, and a locking-finger carried by theupper end of the fly and coacting with the fly-spring to lock the actionin its operated position.

2. In an upright piano-action, the combination with the hammer, butt andfly thereof, of a fly-spring mounted in the fly, a loop attached to thehammer-butt and having the upper end of the fly-spring engaged with it,and a locking-finger carried by the upper end of the fly and eoactingwith the fly-spring to lock the action in its operated position.

3. In an upright pianoaction, the combination with the hammer-butt andfly thereof, of a fly-spring mounted in the fly and connected with thehammer-butt, a locking-finger carried by the upper end of the fly andco-acting with the fly-spring to lock the action in its operatedposition, a damperlever, a spring therefor, a cam located upon the lowerend of the damper-lever, and a set-off carried by the fly and acted uponby the said cam of the da1nperlever under the influence of the springthereof.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presenceof two subscrib ing witnesses.

IGNAIIUS \VROZINA. Witnesses HENRY EDLER, Josnrr-r IVROZINA.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents. Washington, In. C.

